I've been working on a pair of starship minis (Panther Class Cruisers from the Galactic Knights line). I hadn't done anything fancy; black primer, layers of metallic medium, black glaze, a little white drybrush, but I wasn't completely happy with it. They looked drab, and I thought it needed something more, some color maybe. I reached into my paint drawer and pulled out a bottle of Vallejo Sunset Red, which might be fairly described as very pink. A tiny bit of this stuff, I thought, should do the trick.I went to squeeze out a little bit into a bottle cap to work with, but the tip was plugged. No problem - I popped the tip off and used a sculpting pick to poke out the opening and stir up the partly cured paint that was blocking the hole. I added a few drops of rubbing alcohol to the bottle, pressed the tip back on, and gave it a good shake. (Rubbing alcohol is a solvent to acrylic paint, and I've has some luck rehabilitating old bottles of paint this way.)
Back to the painting - I went to squeeze out a bit of paint again, and the darn thing was still plugged up. I squeezed it harder and ...
... the newly loosened tip came off, splattering bright pink paint all over my painting table, my minis, my clothes, my hands, and (I now see) even a bit on my computer keyboard and screen. What a mess! Reasoning that I needed to clean my hands off before I spread the mess, I dropped the minis into the water dish to keep the paint from curing and ran to the sink to clean myself up. Once that was completed, I put the minis under running water and scrubbed the pink off with a lightly stiff nylon brush. This was fairly successful, but the rough handling also took some paint off exposed corners of the minis, which will require some repairs. I am considering re-primering them white and painting them in pink, to commemorate the event [edit: See the results here].
Back to the painting - I went to squeeze out a bit of paint again, and the darn thing was still plugged up. I squeezed it harder and ...
SPLAT!!!
... the newly loosened tip came off, splattering bright pink paint all over my painting table, my minis, my clothes, my hands, and (I now see) even a bit on my computer keyboard and screen. What a mess! Reasoning that I needed to clean my hands off before I spread the mess, I dropped the minis into the water dish to keep the paint from curing and ran to the sink to clean myself up. Once that was completed, I put the minis under running water and scrubbed the pink off with a lightly stiff nylon brush. This was fairly successful, but the rough handling also took some paint off exposed corners of the minis, which will require some repairs. I am considering re-primering them white and painting them in pink, to commemorate the event [edit: See the results here].
6 comments:
Ashley should be pleased to hear this.
Ha! Funny story and I'm glad you're able to have a happy ending.
I had an issue with dipping a mini with lichen on the base in Future floor polish (my indoor varnish of choice in these Chicago winters.. I hit it with some Mod Podge after it's dry to dull the gloss.. but hard shell finish.. anyway...)
So apparently Future floor wax turns green lichen blue. Not good if you have a fantasy figure in a forest setting... and a blue grass base. :)
@Steven: I imagine she will. :-)
The minis are now "Pink Panthers", or maybe purplish depending on the light. I need to finish a few details and then I'll get some pics up.
@Chgowiz: I've had trouble with Future saturating my flocking too and making the colors run. Water-soluble die in my grass flocking turned an entire base green once.
I forgot to mention one important detail of the story: If your must have a paint explosion in your living room (where I work), be very glad if you don't get paint on the new carpet!
You are going to have to post piccies now.
Pictures!
You know, Hot Pink -is- for real men. Just look at the Paris rugby team.
You have to be really sure that you are areal man to wear hot pink and carry it off.
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